Case Study Author: William M.

Erickson, Staff Engineer: Indramat Division, The Rexroth Corporation

VisSim Motor Supplier Improves Machine Design

with VisSim Modeling & Simulation Software
Machine builders throughout industry are under
pressure to provide higher throughput, greater
accuracy, higher reliability (uptime) all at lower
cost. For the motor supplier, this is an important
opportunity to play a role in the machine design.
The suppliers expertise in motor requirements and
capability can lower the expense of designing a
machine and shorten the design cycle.

Indramat frameless motor

The Challenge

As a supplier of servo motors, drives and computer controls, we at Indramat gain a substantial competitive
advantage by proving to our customers that the motors and drives we select will achieve the required
performance criteria, without forcing them to build an expensive prototype or spend months evaluating the
equipment. Our competitive position depends not only on the quality of our products, but also on our ability
to deliver the exact performance specifications required by our customers. Our customers are machine
VisSims easy-to
builders who use our servo products to perform motion control in a variety of applications, ranging from
use-interface and
sophisticated high-speed spindles to low-speed rotary tables.
simulation engine Consider the customer who requires a certain bandwidth (a measure of how well the real-world application
not only boosts follows the control command). The customer doesnt want a bandwidth lower than what he needs, but he
the productivity
cant accept a higher bandwidth either, since that increases cost and unnecessarily loads the system. We
and quality of
dont want to supply a motor whose torque and velocity are so strong it will excite resonances in the
control system
design, but also machine. Given the mechanical load, the mass of the customers machine, and other factors, we determine
minimizes costs the appropriate motor and drive, along with the exact set of control parameters.
for everyone. We have to guarantee to the customer that these parameters will deliver the required performance
VisSim is intui-
bandwidth. Until recently, we provided that proof by testing the components in our lab. We would take the
tive and visual,
selected motor and drive from stock, connect them to a large steel wheel having the same mass as the
with a block
diagram ap- customers machine and then run tests for half a day.
proach that
closely emulates
the way a control
engineer looks at
the world.

William M.Erickson, Engineer:Indramat

Division of Rexroth Corporation

VisSim model of a motion control system comprising servo drive,

motor and machine mechanics. The plots depict the systems
response in terms of torque, velocity and position variation
caused by step change in commanded velocity.
Modeling The Future

Application: Servo Motor / Motion Control

 The Solution : VisSim
An alternative to this time-consuming process would be to run simulation software to test the components.
Initially we were not encouraged by the simulation software we had tested... until we learned about VisSim, an
interactive Windows-based modeling and simulation software program. VisSim provides a visual block dia-
gram interface instead of lines of text. The flow of the diagram, such as summing junctions and gains, is
graphically depicted on the screen. Blocks and connections are assembled with a classical control perspective.

We liked VisSims ease of use, but we didnt know whether the software could accurately simulate motion
control systems. I ran some simulations with VisSim and compared it with our lab results. VisSims predic-
tions matched the lab results on enough tests to convince us of the accuracy and reliability of the software.

I began using VisSim on a regular basis to select the correct motor and drive systems for our customers. The
simulations modeled the function of our motor and drive with the function of the customer machine, inte-
grating the mechanical load and electrical properties of the components into a system. VisSim provided two
critical components used in selecting a motor: motor velocity and motor torque. Equally important, I used
VisSim to assure customers that the selected motor and drive would give them the performance they required.

Frameless motor design with VisSim

One of our more critical applications was to assure a customer that the frameless motor technology would provide the solution for
optimizing the machine-motor fit of a new machine. Responding to market demand for smaller machine volume, the customers
engineers wanted to downsize the motor volume. Frameless motors seemed the perfect answer. Without a pre-defined frame casing,
shaft, bearing structure and cooling package, frameless motors can be as much as one-seventh the volume of conventional framed
motors, while achieving the same power rating. They are installed as individual components (a rotor, stator and feedback assembly)
and become integral parts of the machine.

The customers engineers were taking a bold step in attempting to replace the two large conventional AC induction motors and their bulky
gearboxes with one smaller frameless motor. However, the customers management would not provide final authorization for the design until
they were confident that the design would perform as predicted by the engineers. To assure management of the motors performance
capabilities, I simulated the machine with the frameless motor, drive and computer control using VisSim.

To design the model, I retrieved block diagrams of frameless motors and drives from previous projects. With minor editing, I
modeled the properties specific to the drive, such as its velocity control and current control, the motors inductance and resistance,
torque constant and its conversion of electrical power to mechanical power, and the machines properties, such as inertia and load.

The Benefits
VisSims interactive environment enabled me to easily generate dynamic graphs of motor torque over time. I integrated the torque
through the machine inertia, which gave me velocity and plotted that to determine how smoothly the velocity followed the com-
mand. The shape of this velocity profile enabled me to find the bandwidth. The result was clear that the frameless motor could
perform the required bandwidth.

Because I was able to guarantee that the motor configuration would meet customer specifications, the customers management
approved the design. The project probably wouldnt have proceeded without VisSim, and I wouldnt have had the time to exten-
sively test the machine-motor configuration in the lab. But through simulation with VisSim, I completed the testing in a few hours.

By replacing the conventional motors with the frameless motor, the customer built a machine not only with smaller volume, but
with several key advantages: the stiffer frameless motor yields improved product quality, and the options for configuring shafting
and bearing structures offer more flexibility. In addition, the cooling system is more efficient and the performance is quieter.

Call now for a free VisSim demo disk: 1-800-VISSIM-1

or download it immediately from our web site: www:vissim.com
487 Groton Road, Westford, MA 01886
Modeling The Future Tel: 1-508-392-0100, Fax: 1-508-692-3102, E-mail: info@vissol.com